All Smiles

We seem to have our happy, flirty little boy back! He seems to be feeling much better. I still hear a slight rattle in his airways and there is still a slight cough at night, but over all he seems over the cold. Now Tyler is his normal smiley and very active self. He really wants to move on his own and arms and legs are constantly moving. We just need to convince him to put weight on his arms and I think Tyler will be gone. When Tyler is on our laps, he will mimic crawling around on us. He loves to find my necklace and try to suck on it. I guess we better baby proof the house.

I might get some sleep

The last two or three days we've seen more of our happy little boy and our energetic little girl again. I'm crossing my fingers that the virus is on it's way out and nothing else will crop up for a long while. Ben also came down with it. I'm exhausted from sleepless night listening to my loved ones coughing up lungs and worry that it was more than a cold. But everyone is fine, just some lingering sniffles and a cough here or there.

This has been a fast paced couple of weeks for us.

The last 3 or 4 days have been long and tiring. Both Rachel and Tyler developed colds and fevers this week. I brought them both in once the hacking coughing started for both of them. It wasn't in either one's lungs and Tyler's RSV test was negative. All good things to hear. Rachel seems better yesterday and today. She still has a cough here and there but it doesn't seem to disrupt her life too much.

Tyler sounds like he's hacking up lungs and wheezing. The Dr said we can use the nebulizer to help the wheezing. He had a very hard time breathing Wednesday night and was miserable on Thursday. He was really wheezy and having a hard time breathing. The nebulizer helped for a few hours then he was having problems again. Brought him back to the Dr to make sure his lungs are still clear which they are. We are starting to wonder down the asthma road with Tyler. It's still to early to really tell, but there is a pattern forming when he's had colds. The cold really isn't the big problem, it's his ability to breath. It looks like his airways are constricting and becoming inflamed which causes a lot of mucus and wheezing. The nebulizer medicine is the same fast acting medicine used in rescue inhalers for asthma patients. He was also given another nebulizer medicine, a very slight steroid to help the inflammation in his airways. He takes this for a month to get through the rest of cold season. At his 12 month check up we will discuss the next steps. It's no surprise that he could be asthmatic. I have asthma like symptoms especially during colds and allergy season. Couple that with his prematurity and lung complications, we are lucky he isn't full fledged asthmatic yet.

Before these colds, Tyler had his 9 month check up. He was 16 pounds and 2 ounces and looking very good. At nine months they do a figure prick to check lead levels and for anemia. Tyler came back very slightly anemic. So off to the lab to get a full blood analysis. Of course Tyler is he normal flirty self making it hard for the tech to think about stabbing him with a needle. Tyler has never been a easy blood draw. In ICN it got to the point where they just referred the draw to the best nurse on duty and it still took 2 to 4 tries. Well he isn't much better. The poor girl thought she had one in his arm, but it rolled away. After searching with the needle for a minute and him screaming I said it might be best to try someplace else. She hunted for another good 10 minutes for her next spot--his hand. Before she stabs him, she says that the next step would be for me to take him to the hospital if she can't get blood here. Thankfully Tyler cooperated and we got the blood out of him.

If that wasn't bad enough, it took a full week to get the results (which he is mildly anemic) and a prescription for iron. I'm not sure why it took so long. When I picked up the medicine, I asked how he should take it. He has to take it an hour before he eats or 2 hours after he eats. He can't take it with milk, cereal, whole grain foods, he can't lay down for 30 minutes after taking it, and should drink 8 ozs of water or juice with it, 3 times a day for 3 months. I looked at the pharmacist, "He's 9 months old and still eats every 2 hours!" I got a shrug and a "well that is how you are supposed to administer it." I asked the Dr about this yesterday while I was there, I just need to make sure he takes it with some vitamin C to help with absorption. I"m not sure that helps, but here goes nothing.

Other than that everything is running smoothly. Tyler's development evaluation in Lebanon has been rescheduled in June due to a medical leave. When able to breathe, Tyler is a happy, flirty little boy.